portal

On the new episode of Gobbledygeek, Paul and AJ told you about all the things you should buy this Christmas season, and now here’s a comprehensive guide! (Including a few items that weren’t even mentioned on the show.)

Note: Most links and prices are from Amazon.

BOOKS/COMICS

Hands down one of the best science fiction books I’ve read in recent memory. It’s like my admittedly overdeveloped nostalgia gland were milked and distilled onto the page. This book is my geeky, pop-culture DNA printed in ink. ~ Paul

Here come the test results: you are a horrible person. That’s what it says. A horrible person. We weren’t even testing for that.

It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction. Portal 2, the long-awaited sequel to Valve’s 2007 first-person puzzler hit, takes everything that was great about the original and supercharges it. With science.

When Portal debuted in the Orange Box package, it seemed little more than an afterthought; a quirky little puzzle game tacked on between Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2. But it quickly became the breakout hit of that package, winning fan and critical praise for it’s addictive brainteasers and it’s evil-but-oh-so-fun antagonist, the homicidal and passive-aggressive artificial intelligence GLaDOS. And though the story ended with the player killing the mad machine, I don’t really think it’s a spoiler to tell you that the bitch is back for a rematch.

Valve, the company responsible for the darkly humorous and addictive action puzzle game Portal in 2007, has released the first part of an online comic that bridges the story between the original game and the upcoming Portal 2 (April 19). Titled Portal 2: Lab Rat, the comic, created entirely in-house at Valve Studios with the help of comics legend Michael Avon Oeming, will expand the Portal world and narrative, and introduces a character we all love but have never actually met, or even seen. (Not to mention brings back my #100 favorite character in modern pop culture.)

Part 1 of the tie-in debuted this Friday on IGN Comics. Part 2 will premier Monday, April 11.

On Friday’s show, Paul and I began our countdown of the Top 100 Characters in Modern Pop Culture. We’ve each got our own lists, and last night we revealed our respective #s 100-91. Be sure to listen to the show for our full run-down, but here are our picks with excerpts of what we said:

#100

PAUL: The Companion Cube (Portal)

Your weighted Companion Cube is very faithful, never talks back, and will never stab you, but sadly, it doesn’t really get a happy ending. The Companion Cube’s story is, I’m afraid, a tragedy.

AJ: Charlie Pace (Lost)

Charlie started as a one-hit wonder rock star with a heroin addiction, but along with his good friend Hurley, he quickly became the heart of the show.